Presidential Letter to Congress
Text of a Letter from the President to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President of the Senate
January 30, 2002

Dear Mr. Speaker: (Dear Mr. President:)

Consistent with section 6001(a) of the Resource Conservation and
Recovery Act (RCRA) (the "Act"), as amended, 42 U.S.C. 6961(a),
notification is hereby given that on September 18, 2001, I issued
Presidential Determination 2001-27 (copy attached) and thereby
exercised the authority to grant certain exemptions under section
6001(a) of the Act.

Presidential Determination 2001-27 exempted the United States Air
Force's operating location near Groom Lake, Nevada, from any Federal,
State, interstate, or local hazardous or solid waste laws that might
require the disclosure of classified information concerning that
operating location to unauthorized persons. Information
concerning activities at the operating location near Groom Lake has
been properly determined to be classified, and its disclosure would be
harmful to national security. Continued protection of this
information is, therefore, in the paramount interest of the United
States.

The determination was not intended to imply that, in the absence of
a Presidential exemption, RCRA or any other provision of law permits or
requires the disclosure of classified information to unauthorized
persons. The determination also was not intended to limit the
applicability or enforcement of any requirement of law applicable to
the Air Force's operating location near Groom Lake except those
provisions, if any, that might require the disclosure of classified
information.